The CMO's Content Marketing Report Card: 5 Steps to Operationalize a Content Marketing Program that Drives Business

1©2014 Skyword
How CMOs can spark
profit-generating conversations
with technology decision makers
by operationalizing content marketing
Caitlin Roberson — VP, West

2©2014 Skyword
I wanted this…
… But I clicked here,
because I hadn’t heard
about this.
And I DEFINITELY didn’t care about this.
Forbes
Once upon a time…

3©2014 Skyword
What is content marketing?
Marketing is identifying or creating a market for your product or service.
Content marketing is building this community using content.
– Brian Honigman

5©2014 Skyword
Are you ready to
move forward?Are you ready to
move forward?The game’s
changed.

6©2014 Skyword
We used to
control how
information is
delivered.

7©2014 Skyword
Now buyers do.

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It’s become harder to stand out.

9©2014 Skyword
Enter, content marketing.

10©2014 Skyword
93 76 94
These numbers tell a story:

11©2014 Skyword
93 76
Percent of B2B
marketers who
use content
marketing.
Percent of CMOs
who will increase
2015 content
marketing spend.
Percent of
purchase path
governed by
content.
Sources: Content Marketing Institute, CMO Council, Digiday
94

12©2014 Skyword
ROI reported
by IBM
for 2014.
390%
Return reported
by an SMB for
2014.
2X
Sources: Skyword
And these may explain why brands are scrambling for a piece of the
content marketing pie.

13©2014 Skyword
Content is important.

14©2014 Skyword
Especially for SaaS companies, where the recurring revenue
model has primed customer expectations.

15©2014 Skyword
“There’s no excuse for not understanding your metrics,
for not providing great customer service,
for not understanding the role of customer success,
for not doing intelligent lifecycle marketing,
for not doing great content marketing…
What was hard and innovative 5 years ago is #TableStakes now.”
— Christoph Janz, Point Nine Capital (on Twitter)

16©2014 Skyword
“Content marketing is one of the most powerful marketing
tools startups can employ. Blogs are powerful drivers of
awareness and creators of purchasing intent which ultimately lead
to new customers, new employees or other new opportunities.
“This is doubly true as buyers are educating themselves before
contacting sales teams to a far greater extent than ever.”
— Tomasz Tunguz, Redpoint Ventures

18©2014 Skyword
Executives are panicking, esp about budgets +
tech.
Half of CMOs report worrying
about managing the intersection
of marketing + tech in 2015…

19©2014 Skyword
They need to figure it
out: Their budgets
will out-size CIO
budgets in 2017.

20©2014 Skyword
• Less than half (35%) of content marketers document their strategy,
which shows many don’t understand this process is a simple,
repeatable science — yet.
A few things are going on:

21©2014 Skyword
• Marketing teams struggle to find and retain qualified talent.

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• Marketing teams struggle to find and retain qualified talent.
• Most marketers haven’t closed the data loop to prove content’s
business value.

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Source: Gartner, IBM CMO Study 2015
It’s a lot.

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But, there is hope…

25©2014 Skyword
But, there is hope…
5 Steps:
Deliver ROI
with Your
Content

26©2014 Skyword
Your
Content
Marketing
Report Card
5 categories
30 points possible
for each
150 points total

27©2014 Skyword© Skyword 2015 ‹#›
1) Magnetize your message.

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Like any engaging conversation,
a successful content marketing program factors in:
And filters topics
aligned with your Brand
People you’re
trying to influence
Topics
they love

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Today’s tech executive
must power innovation +
mobility w an infrastructure
that’s scalable + secure.
Source: “The Human CIO”, IBM
Start by understanding your decision maker.

30©2014 Skyword
Then, activate empathy networks,
with a storytelling
approach.

31©2014 Skyword
Brands have always sold by telling stories.

32©2014 Skyword
How did you
learn not to
“cry wolf”?

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• Why change?
• Why change now?
• Why change now
with [your brand]?
Storytelling creates
a buying vision
when it answers
these questions:

34©2014 Skyword
• Lead with third-party stats
• End with proof points
The Exoskeleton of a Buying Vision
Tools:
• Social listening
• Competitive landscape analysis
• Trends research

35©2014 Skyword
1 + 1 = 5
The enterprise incubator
Collaboration happens when people create something better together
than alone. To unleash that potential, people must connect.
This is especially true for enterprise Sales, Marketing and IT teams.
To few are cashing in on pooling their talents.
Still, as change accelerates, and knowledge gets more specialized,
businesses will only win by co-innovating.
Let’s create a publication that spotlights
how real-life enterprise professionals are
doing big things, TOGETHER.

36©2014 Skyword 36© 2014 Skyword Inc, Confidential. All rights reserved.
It’s not just about athletics.
It’s about life skills.
Performance
for the future

37©2014 Skyword
1) How well do you know who you’re talking to, and what s/he care about?
2) How consistent does your team conduct social listening and trends
research?
3) Do you lead with ideas and innovation, to make information sticky?
Do you own the conversation?
Rate yourself: 1-10 points per question

2) Risk-proof your strategy.

40©2014 Skyword
Kentico August 2013
10 : 10

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3X
2X
X
Content
Ratio
This is why
content needs
to span the
entire funnel.

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Content : Dating
Progressive levels
of commitment +
branded details

43©2014 Skyword
Produce and leverage multiple content types in the customer journey including: Articles,
eBooks, whitepapers, infographics, and videos.
Impactful stories are told in multiple content types + formats…

44©2014 Skyword
A E C Nwareness
• Re-active
storytelling
• Audience-
driven
• Trending topics
ducation
• eBooks
• Infographics
• Customer
stories
• Long-form asset
support
onversion
• Video
• Innovator
spotlights
• Events
• Webinars
urture
• Email
campaigns
• Innovator
spotlights
• Customer
stories
Aligning directly to audience(s) + individual decision-making processes.

45©2014 Skyword
A E C Nducation
• eBooks
• Infographics
• Customer
stories
• Long-form asset
support
onversion
• Video
• Innovator
spotlights
• Events
• Webinars
urture
• Email
campaigns
• Innovator
spotlights
• Customer
stories
Most B2B tech brands are currently doing THIS alright:

46©2014 Skyword
A E C Nwareness
• Re-active
storytelling
• Audience-
driven
• Trending topics
ducation
• eBooks
• Infographics
• Customer
stories
• Long-form asset
support
onversion
• Video
• Innovator
spotlights
• Events
• Webinars
urture
• Email
campaigns
• Innovator
spotlights
• Customer
stories
But they MISS driving audience demand with top-of-funnel content:

47©2014 Skyword
Regular listening and
conversation analysis of
social networks
Collaborative monthly topics
planning among key
stakeholders
Analysis of search trends,
volumes, and consumer
demand
Skyword conducts regular analysis of search and social consumer trends to identify content
opportunities. In addition, monthly topic planning aligns all content efforts to broader
marketing efforts and content production.
Recap: You do this by analyzing social conversations + search trends…

48©2014 Skyword
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
80,000
May June July August September October November December January February March April May June July August September
Irregular
publishing/low
volumes
Consistent monthly
publishing/increased volumes
Actual Skyword client data, monthly page views, in the consumer technology industry.
With the flexibility to publish regularly, scaling up or down as needed.

49©2014 Skyword
1) Searchable
2) Snackable
3) Shareable
At all times, content must be three things:

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Consistency is key
Break-through requires 3 to 7 repetitions.

52©2014 Skyword
Source: Sysomos research, IBM CMO study
Above all, Sales & Marketing values two things:
1. Thought leadership that’s validated by third-party research
2. Fact-based assessments of products + services
Know your personas’ content consumption habits.

53©2014 Skyword
“When it comes to content,
I’m one of four (of five) CIOs
who prefers information
that’s:
• News-driven
• Relevant to my industry
• No more than 150 words”
Source: Sysomos research, IBM CMO study
Like these, of today’s C-level IT executive:

54©2014 Skyword
Cloud
Storage and
Sharing Secrets
Mobility Innovation Collaboration
Ensuring
Secure,
Scalable
Infrastructure
BYOD Trends
Astonishing
Productivity
Hacks
The Best Travel
Tips
Pursuing Work-
Life Balance
Inspiring
Entrepreneurs
in Teams
Equipping the
Virtual
Workforce
Powering Face-
to-Face
Connections
Communication
Secrets
Management
& Leadership
Spotlights
Sparking
Productivity
Select recurring content themes + sample topics.

55©2014 Skyword
Monday
Listicle
In-Depth
‘How-To’
Feature
Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Set a starting publishing cadence, to test.
Innovator
Spotlight
News with
Analysis
Tips & Tricks

56©2014 Skyword
Know the difference: Non-branded, branded and lightly-branded
publishing destinationsCreate a conversion strategy.

57©2014 Skyword2/11/2015 5757©2014 Skyword
Case Study IBM Security
For IBM Security, it’s not about selling services—
it’s about sharing news and analysis for
information security professionals.
• Create central information hub to connect both IT and
security professionals
• Become the voice of information security through thought
leadership content
• Empower IBM internal subject matter experts and external
influencers to blog on behalf of IBM
• Show business value of content marketing within a division
of a large enterprise organization

58©2014 Skyword 58©2014 Skyword
Case Study IBM Security
• Launched SecurityIntelligence.com and increased traffic
494% in the first year
• On-boarded 150 internal and external contributors to
drive content production for the website
• 1 in 10 site visits turn into business engagements
• 3.5% of site visits turn into marketing responses
• 15,000 marketing responses with average cost of $25
• $19 million in sales opportunities for IBM
• $1.2 million in savings, compared to content curation and
other media spend
• 390% ROI in 2014

59©2014 Skyword
Understand the difference: Non-branded, branded, lightly branded

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 Content should be
one click away
 If it looks like a
landing page,
buyers will bounce
An important note:

61©2014 Skyword
1) Does your strategy reflect formalized personas and buyer content
consumption preferences?
2) How effectively does your conversion strategy fill pipeline? (Is your
funnel ratio working?)
3) Do you publish on an owned destination?
How strategic is your brand?

3) Build a balanced content team.

63©2014 Skyword
What brain capital exists in-house?

64©2014 Skyword
What about your company’s partners?
Consider:
 Partners
 Resellers
 Customers
 Referral sources
 Former employees
 Venture backers
 Board members

65©2014 Skyword
Known influencers will up-level your results, as well.

66©2014 Skyword
A diverse contributor team incentivizes sharing.

67©2014 Skyword
(Most C-levels depend on middle management for fresh ideas + execution)
So, consider two-tiers: executive, mid-level contributors.

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But how do you find contributors?

69©2014 Skyword
How do you verify their qualifications?

71©2014 Skyword2/11/2015 7171©2014 Skyword
Case Study IBM Midsize Insider
For IBM, it’s more than IT solutions — it’s about helping
midsize IT professionals think differently in the work they
do every day.
• After developing a reputation for being a costly solution for
midsize businesses, IBM had to extend its offerings beyond
its core solutions to break this mold.
• IBM recruited a highly relevant team of authors from the
midsize-business and IT worlds.
• These contributors regularly publish news-oriented and
advice-giving stories that inform IBM’s target audience
about the trends taking place in the industry.

IBM Midsize Insider Results
IBM’s Midsize Insider program achieved the following results
to date:
• IBM Wins 2013 Digiday Award for Best Content Marketing
Program
• Acceptance into Google News
• 4,500+ professionally crafted, search-optimized articles
• 30+ writer relationships
• 365MM+ social impressions generated
• 890,000+ page views
• 85,000+ social engagements
• 2.4% CTR from MidsizeInsider.com to IBM.com Solutions Pages

73©2014 Skyword
1) How well do you evangelize in-house subject matter expertise?
2) How strategically do you ‘share the microphone’?
3) Is your contributor group sufficiently diverse?
Are you leveraging influencer networks + knowledge?

4) Streamline a scalable workflow.

83©2014 Skyword
Recruit
Subject matter
experts
Journalists,
Videographers
Refine
Train on standards,
voice
Measur
e
Develop calend
ar
Assign
Measure
Optimize &
Publish
Ensure global scale.

84©2014 Skyword2/11/2015 8484©2014 Skyword
Case Study Priceless Cities
For MasterCard, It’s not about issuing credit cards—It’s
about connecting with a global audience around their
passions and love for their cities
• Built a website geared toward a global audience that
profiles the amazing cultural events taking place in the
world’s most-beautiful cities
• Connected with local writers and videographers to produce
authentic written and video content about each city
• United global cities around citizens’ love and pride for their
communities.

Priceless Cities Results
Expanded from pilot study in one city to global campaigns,
that are slated to include five continents:
• USA: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami
• Canada: Toronto
• Europe: London, Munich, Moscow
• Asia: Dubai
• South America: The Caribbean, Brazil
* Each program features local teams of contributors and
editors, creating content for local markets

86©2014 Skyword
1) What’s your process for finding and training qualified talent?
2) How well have you formalized brand voice, guidelines?
3) Are you managing a defined workflow process all in one place?
Can your model can scale with company growth?

5) Close the feedback loop.

88©2014 Skyword
Retaining motivated contributors is as important as reporting.
 Millennials
– Promotion-seeking
– Likes flexibility,
freedom and accolades
 Generation X
– Prioritizes time w
family
 Baby Boomers
– Warm to teaching
opportunities (impact)
– Thinking about
retirement

90©2014 Skyword
Create a reward loop.
?!
 Intra-company
announcements
 Public recognition
 SPIFs
 Bonuses, MBOs
 Suggested tweets
with @mentions
 Roving trophies

91©2014 Skyword
Drill into content’s impact on profit.
 Report on anonymous + known leads
viewing the most pages on your site
 Receive MA email alerts about which
companies view your site
 Enable salespeople to monitor leads’
email + web activity on your CRM
 Create URL links in MA platform
 Append URL parameters to links w/in
content + social to gain insight into
information in hidden fields.

92©2014 Skyword
“My team directly
influenced 27% of
booked business in
Q3 with our
content.”
— Patricia Travaline
VP Marketing,
Skyword
Know your ROI.

93©2014 Skyword
1) Have you identified and communicated which KPIs matter most?
2) How connected is your team with your results?
3) What’s your process for comparing — and optimizing — performance
across topics, channels, and contributors?
Do you measure what matters?

95©2014 Skyword
Are you ready to
move forward?Are you ready to
move forward?• Crawl: 10-30 points
• Walk: 40-60 points
• Run: 70-90 points
• Sprint: 100-120 points
• Win: 130-150 points
Your Results

97©2014 Skyword
1) Start with a big idea, based on competitive research. Deploy a storytelling approach
that’s sticky.
2) Map content themes to progressive buyer interests. Formalize your conversion strategy.
Delight your customer with varied content types.
3) Incorporate and automate social, SEO, and back linking rules.
4) Always lead with fresh ideas. Make your content searchable, snack-able, shareable.
5) Publish on an owned property — as often as you want buyers on your site.
6) Build a well-rounded contributor team. Empower internal SMEs and partners. Share the
authorship microphone.
7) Motivate contributors to stay invested.
8) Invest in a content workflow that can scale with global projections.
9) Close the feedback loop. Define and test KPIs. Measure consistently. Tweak.
10)Produce profit reports. Uplevel your place at the revenue table.
10-Step Checklist

The CMO's Content Marketing Report Card: 5 Steps to Operationalize a Content Marketing Program that Drives Business

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